NOTES AND NEW8. ' A meeting of specially selected ratepayers has been called for this (Wednesday) night to take steps to escape their civic responsibilities. . ¿Mr. E. V. y. Brown holds .a big auction sale of utilities at »his mart où Saturday next. There is Ino' re-J s^rve.' 9 Attention is directed to auction salí of furniture and household goods at Mrs. Callan's residence, on Friday evening next at 7.30. Mr. Gribbon is the auctioneer. Í . . - The Administrator desires that the visit of Mr. Poynton be as widely known as possible, so ^that residents of Darwin and the interior may have ample time to present their require- ments to him. The unfortunate men who were committed for trial from Katherine and who were acquitted on one charge, were finally discharged on Monday, the Crown failing to have its witnesses in attendance. Mr. Rob- erts sought an adjournment which Mr. Barrett successfully opposed, His Honor very properly declining to grant the adjournment. At the Police Couxt on Tue...

AN AVATAR'S MISSION The announced visit ofMr. Poyn- ton, Minister for Home and Territor- ies, can hardly be classed with the historic visit of George to Dublin which event Byron so scathingly re- ferred to in his "Avatar." George went ostensibly as a Messiah or ava- tar to the land which, as Byron says, " He loved as his bride/'How he loved his bride may be gleaned from the fact that her forlorn corpse was on its way to her native Germany at the very moment that George left on his carousal tour to Dublin. Of course, Mr. Ponyton would hardly aim at such pranks, and indeed it is within the grounds of possibility that he wiii be not a Georgian but~a veritable ava- tar. The only suspicious phase ot the announced visit is that a make believe, and not the real object of the visit has been announced. " It is a well-known tact that much of the personal, and even polTtical and social variance which irritates and in- jures, is attributable tn lack of mut- ual acquaintance and knowledge. Per n...

The Arts-the Artful,, and the Artless. VOCAL, INSTRUMENTAL, LIT- ERARY AND HISTORIC NOTES. (By Virtuoso). I Darwin is a comparatively sinall place, yet it* has no insonsider able pretentious to a nieiie in the temple of the "Divine Art.''" It suf ' ¿creel a minus mark in the loss 01 the King family, for tiley were undoubt ebly entitled to unalloyed apprecia- tion, not alone as popular and gen- erous caterers for the tastes of the .Artful" and "Artless" alike, but were worthy of acceptance as vir- tuosos if not adepts. . . . . The most notable move in instru- mental excellence of late has been vhe marked advance made by the loc il band both in energy and acquire - .lient. The leading lights tjf the band ire undoubted enthusiasm, notably .he honorary conductor and the gen ^rous^"' Drummer." The public, too. are4 beginning to appreciate this fne " Institution." . *. . ' . YV'c will probably be »a long time jefore we have a plethora of Licen- tiates or Associates, as they have in jiost ...

THE "STANDARD" GEN&amp;RAL i PLATFORM. Besides supplying general news and current critiques the "Standard" will I advocate inter alia, the following : . I The right of Small Nations aand I of all Nations. I Australiaan Self-Détermination at ' earliest opportune date. 1 Democratic, as against imperalis tic methods and discontinuance of privileges. The sway of reason over artifice prejudice and might. 1 Virtues and Merits in Nations and individuals the sole standard cf re- 1 i ward. j The cherishing of nationaal sacri- fices and fidelity in the cause of ' I liberty. ! Labor ideals, aimed at with ful re- gard for religious and moral frin ciples. Abolition of monopolies, and secur- ing equal opportunities and full re- sult of effort. I Freedom of religious thought ted ' the sacredness of individual cpu- j science. Neighbourship and brotherhood in religious interrelations and in sodal j I life. ' i Equal educational and all otter natural advantages and rights for ill sections. Invari...

The Council does- not favor' the proposed removal i of the Quarantine: ; Station from «tts present insiilaV ldc- ' ation to the mainland. ¡ ?1 f , Councillors " assert1.-, that it would ? bring possible contagion right into thc centre of population.- "l They . further claim that ins the case. of an epidemic! it would not be pos-, sible with the present limited- '.. strength of the police force to assure isolation. _ -, ^ ; 1 The official view-point is that the , insular situation makes access very, difficult if not impassible at- 'times. ; makes the providing of / nurses pre- ; carious and hazardous ánd; is, extra expensive, - ~\ - \ ' t i \-1 i" j. ' ,

TO CORRESPONDENTS, Etc. IThc " Northern Standard v aims at being thoroughly representative of tne Northern Territory and with this end in view welcomes correspon- dence from all outlying centres. No matter how opposed to our views free discussion is permitted in , our coiumns, so long as it is not ab- usive and refers to matters oi general interest. Any complaints in regard to non receipt of paper should be reported to ( us at once. We will do our best to remedy them. Wc would bc grateful to our friends for their good oflices with neigh- bours, in obtaining fresh subscribers etc., and in helping to add to th« power for good ox the people's owl newspaper. Secretaries of the various Club: and institutions are invited to tor ...;rd condensed reports oi proceed ingsaf meetings, etc and we will b pleased to send a representative ti any important function when dui; notified. :-Ul Our telephone number ls HQ, zn a ring up will secure any desired in formation as td charges for printing adver...

Telegraphic news is still cut off. Hence the entire absence of our us- ual budget from this issue. Yesterday was the historic 4th of March-one of America's most im- portant national days. Abrogation of pojwer by self, is one of the first evil things which leads to final loss of power. Nothing like self-reliance. The heaviest rain of the season fell this morning. ^\W!SÊÊÊÊtL

The Council, judging by its decis- ions at last meeting,v-f is taking the (office of Administrator rvcry serious- ly. It falls 'back on " deputations " j for almost r everything' ; v»'hichY it . should decide for itself/. i

THE WARATAHS' " LUCK." (To the Editor " Standard.") Sir,-Lately 1 have seen many al- lusion's in the Press to Waratah's "Usual good luck" or "Unsport manlikc behavior" etc., so may I put before thc public a few facts, not to gain - sympathy, but at least to prove that we are trying to "play the game" against rather heavy odds. Since the first two rounds wc have lost the following men all of whom are good players and individually would make a difference to any team: Burns, Muldoon, F. K. Walker, En- gel, Allinson, Bowden," and the more recent arrivals Stan Brown and Cameron, who were both unable to stay for the finals. Add to that total of eight we have four men disabled at present, Lampe, Lemon, Tregenza and Edwards.ïrégenza and Lampe may play for the finals but will both bc practically useless for any hard play. No more need be said except the fait that since the beginning of the season ¿Varatahs have always put their best team in the field and taken no thought of saving their men ...

Open Column. (We do not necessarily endorse the views expressed by correspondents.) (To the Editor). Sir,-This crusade in search oí de- faulters who have paid no State or' Federal Income Tax comes at a very inopportune time, when most people who have not paid find it hard to make ends meet. It is no fault of the people who refuse to pay to bc called upon to pay taxes dating years back that should have been collected at the proper season only for incom- petent Federal muddlers who are m> known, like the gentleman with the iron mask. These apostles of "Un-, der the lap " politics, who sit on vel- vet and pray ." Give us this day our daily bread '' -and the new Federal Capital-dont care and will not try to understand the rudiments of com- mon sense. 8 They have dilly-dallied with this tax collecting for three or four years, making fish of one and flesh of another. There is no dis- guising the fact that, since these tax- es were first put into operation thc Federal Authorities have f...

The Civil Sessions of the Supreme j Court will be held at the Courthouse j on Monday, the 7th inst, when the ! case of Charles Hooland Emery, mounted constable of Darwin, again- st J. W. Shunter, of 'Maranboy, graz- ier, will be heard. The action is one of libel and the damages claimed are

FEDERAL INCOME TAX. The following figures from the Melbourne "Argus" are somewhat startling, though we have heard very little about threats to commandeer. Evidently Darwin is not a persona grata with the quite impartial Fed- eral Authorities : " Reference was raube by the Ac- ting Commonwealth Treasurer (Sir Joseph Cook) to statements in the press that only 2x6,000 people paid Commonwealth income tax out oi 2,000,000 citizens of 21 years of age. Sir Joseph Cook explained that many thousands of people escaped the law because the special deduc- tions allowed by law reduced theil incomes below the taxable limit Re- turns were received by the Taxation authorities from approximately 8oo, ooo persons, and companies through- out Australia. Of these 388,000 paie the tax in the financial year 1918 191g, the latest period for whicl statistics were available. Disscctioi of these figures in order to discovc: the classes of persons who had lod ged returns was at present a difficul matter. r^i^'i...

MEETING OF 6ELECT RATE- PAYERS A SHOCK AND A COLLAPSE In last issue of the " Northern Standard" appeared, by way of pre- monition a statement to thc effect that a meeting of " Ratepayers in sympathy .with" certain desires of thc promoters of fhe « meeting was called by private circular fer Wed- nesday night. As a result a number cf other (uninvited) ratepayers were present, and the " Meeting " was held. But what a meeting ! Not more than about half a dozen of the " Select" ratepayers invited were pre- sent, but there were a score or two cf others and when the conveners of the cabalistic meeting began slowly to realise the way their "Plot had failed" they became gradually sub- dued and were filled with consterna- tion. The following is the circular as sent to the special :-.nd "Sympa- thetic" coterie who were expected to attend and fix things up as the " Voice cf thc ratepayers " : RATEPAYERS' DEFENCE . ASSOCIATION. Sir,--A preliminary meeting of ratepayers will be held in the Palmer...

COUNCIL .MEETING. Thc adjourned meeting of the Dar- win Council was held on Thursday evening, Mayer Burton presiding. A letier was read from Mr. Deg- - «an, secretary of St., Patrick's Dajf Celebration Committee asking for tlie free use cf hall on two afternoons a week for rehearsal-the stage only to be used and no lights, if the hall were required the reh-arsal not to be held. The Town Clerk recom- mended v. liberal concession in thc matter and on thc motion of Cr; ! Cant, seconded by Cr. Pearse, it was [decided to grant the use as asked free of charge. j Rc Quarantine Reserve to be re j moved a letter .fras read from the I Authorities, thc M;.yor said he was very much opposed io removal to ¡the mainland and suggested that the Medical Officer's report be obtained. lt would bc a great. disadvantage to have it in a place which would be in such close touch with thc town. Cr. Cant said he was much in ac- cord with the opinions expressed by thc Mayor. It would be very risky and he thoug...

INCOME TAX COLLECTION We duly received yours of ist in- stant, and in reply have to advise that the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, Darwin, has been., inter- viewed on the matter.1*' He advises that the Company will not be reques- ted to act as Agents under Section 50A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1015-1918, for the collection of Taxes from the Waterside' Section. Under these circumstances it is not necessaary to give the guarantee oi payment of wages in full, as mern tioned in your letter. THE NORTHERN AGENCY Ltd. W. H. GRANT, Secretary.

--- »??? ?-:- rzr SUCCESSFUL UNION COUNTER. A TRIUMPH FOR REASON. As foreshadowed by the "North- ern Standard" the timely and con- certed stand taken by the Watersid- er's has once more secured a big vic- tory, the Government having with- drawn its threat aud contemplated commandeering of thc Watersiders' wages in payment of Income Tax.. The following letter received to-day will fully explain the circumstances, and will be welcome news to the tremulous residents : Darwin, N.T., Australia. March 5th, .1921. Mr. Adam J. Wright,^ ", 4 . Secretary, / " ! i Waterside Section, A.W.U., Darwin.